Are you a changer or a changee?

When we hear people talking about change, it is always about an external force.  We always think that change is something we can’t control; something that causes us to react and respond.  We don’t like it.  It makes us uncomfortable.  It makes us do different things in different ways.  The economy changes and we respond.  Our workplace gets reorganized and we respond.  In these transactions we are always playing catch-up.  We are trying to maintain our routine as the world changes around us.  We also don’t have any control over the outcome of the changes or their direction. In short, conventional wisdom puts us as the victims of change, struggling to maintain and survive in the onslaught of forces which we cannot control.

Instead of the passive vision of change, turn it upside down and become the agent of change.  Not that you can change the way the world works but you can change the way the world works on you. You can determine what kind of person you want and need to be and set yourself on a path to become that person.  You don’t make any change in the world around you (at least not in the short run) but it ceases to be the controller of your actions.  A person with a mission who goes out in a storm is driven to follow the path, however the wind may blow.  It might be easiest to go with the wind but you know that you only accomplish your mission at the end of the path so you stay on it.  You fight the wind and struggle to keep moving toward your goal however hard it might be.   A person without a mission in that same storm has no driver.  He will take whatever direction is easiest without thought about where he might end up. And then will have to live with the consequences.

Which is better?  It’s really up to you to decide.  I’ve spent a lot of my life responding to change.  I have done pretty well with it but not good enough.  I have been willing to accept those results because I never looked at the situation clearly.  For me, I am taking charge and becoming an agent of change – my own.  I intend to become the person who has the results I want by learning new skills, redefining myself and forgetting all the things I think I know about me and starting fresh.

I may not get to the end of the path.  I may not become the person I want to become but neither will I get turned in wrong directions by outside forces.  When you hear someone talk about change.  Don’t panic.  Don’t take the passive, defensive approach.  Take it as a challenge to make change your ally.  Be the man!